Trailers for transportation of animals, boats, and equipment generally are equipped with a vertically adjustable jack on which is attached a pivotable caster-type wheel upon which part of the trailer load is supported near the tongue or hitching device. The caster-type wheel is intended to make it possible to move the trailer by applying physical force manually to position the trailer hitch over the mating device on the towing vehicle then lowering the jack to engage the hitching device.
Heavy loads are sometimes difficult or impossible to manually maneuver into position for hitching to the towing vehicle or to manipulate the trailer into difficult positions for storage after it has been disengaged from the hitch, particularly when attempted by only one person. Usually, when it is difficult or impossible to manually maneuver the trailer into position, the driver of the towing vehicle will instead attempt to maneuver the towing vehicle hitch to position it accurately with respect to the trailer hitch or to move the trailer into a stored position by use of the towing vehicle. Such maneuvering requires a great deal of skill and often requires several attempts before it can be positioned accurately enough, and at best is risky, often resulting in damage to the towing vehicle or the trailer. Numerous bodily injuries have also resulted from attempting to move such heavy loads.
The object of this invention is to enable conventional heavy rolling apparatus to be moved and otherwise maneuvered on flat and inclined surfaces by means of leverage with much less manual effort than is normally required for manual movement of mobile equipment. Such conventional devices include trailers for transporting animals, small boats, mobile homes, recreational and utility trailers, and other types of two-wheel and tandem four-wheel trailers normally pulled by automobiles and small trucks.
The invention is also applicable to the two-wheel hand trucks of the type used in industrial warehouses for barrel handling and the like, in department stores, and for similar operations where heavy loads must be moved manually up inclined ramps to loading platforms or up portable ramps to load trucks and trailers.
Also, the invention is useful with four-wheel warehouse truck platforms having two wheels on one end of a truck which are of the non-swivel (caster) type and two wheels on the opposite end which are swivel caster type, as well as hand operated pallet lift trucks, and with two-wheel type wheelbarrows such as used in the construction industry where it is necessary to move heavy loads up inclined ramps and the like.
This invention is particularly useful for one person to manually manipulate trailers into position, for attaching the trailer hitch to a vehicle for towing, and for manipulating a trailer into and out of areas that are difficult to maneuver in by other means.